NASA announced on Thursday that the Artemis II mission, which will send four astronauts on a flight around the moon, will be delayed until April 2026, pushing back the timeline for landing astronauts on the lunar surface. China claims it will land its own Moon mission by 2030, putting pressure on America to stay one step ahead of the communist country.
According to a report recently released by NASA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG), the Orion spacecraft, designed to transport astronauts to the moon in the coming years, faced several critical issues during its 2022 uncrewed test flight.
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, designed to ferry astronauts to the moon, has been reportedly found by an audit to be $6 billion over budget and six years behind its original schedule.
NASA has delayed the launch of the Artemis I after engineers discovered another fuel leak approximately three hours away from the beginning of its launch window.
Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday told reporters before the NASA rocket launch was scrubbed due to engine problems that the United States space program is meant to benefit “all mankind and womankind.”
NASA’s Artemis I rocket launch, which was supposed to embark on a one-month journey circling the moon’s orbit, is not taking off Monday because of an engine bleed.
NASA’s Artemis I missions, the first of which was postponed on Monday, will cost billions of dollars, NASA Inspector General Paul Martin told lawmakers earlier this year.
Vice President Mike Pence, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, introduced some of the 18 astronauts that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has chosen to be on the initial team for the early Artemis missions on and around the Moon.
